if I have to...........

So, the in-laws have been away for the past month and we've been taking care of the homestead while they're away.  Mostly that means a.) just making sure everything is still there b.) feeding the farm cats c.)watering flowers (although our attempts at keeping them alive are not being helped by the heat) and d.) picking their blackberries.  I know, its tough....especially the last one.  So after picking blackberries and eating a few, I felt the urge for some blackberry cobbler goodness (it was!).  I also felt bad that they would not get to enjoy much of the fresh fruit as the heat is affecting the berries (and it's almost the end of the producing season anyway), so I did make some blackberry freezer jam for them (oh boy, is it ever good!).  Aren't I the best daughter-in-law ever?


(sorry, they're not the best pics since they were taken by my phone, but I'm sure you get the idea....oh, and yes i did take a bite of the cobbler before I took a picture of it......wanted to get it while it was warm)

Back to school fun........

Well, here's the swim lesson update....Eyler did go down the slide AND jumped off the diving board (with the instructor catching him of course).  He just kept saying "again, again".  May have a bit of a daredevil on our hands here, there isn't much he won't try at least once (scares the bejesus out of mom, though!)

We had a great weekend....on Saturday, Eyler stayed with memaw so that we could spend an evening with friends.  Then today (Sunday) we ran to Salina to pick up some groceries and hit Wal-Mart.  We made a quick sweep through the back to school aisles and filled our cart (okay, maybe not "filled") with $0.25 crayons and some washable markers, glue sticks, colored pencils and watercolors.  Of course then we had to try them all out when we got home.  I remembered how I loved going back to school and getting new supplies for school.....times have not changed that much!

Happy Birthday, again...............

Happy Birthday today to my step-dad!!  Lots of July births!  Eyler called him this morning to wish him a "Happy Birthday" and I had to keep telling him to "wait for the beep" (which he clearly did not want to do!), then the beep comes and we get silence!!!  Too cute and hilarious! 

I was originally planning on making oatmeal rasin cookies (his fave), and while I normally am fine baking during the heat of the summer, it's different baking cakes, brownies, pies or cinnamon rolls, where you only have to open the oven once to put it in and once to take it out.......unlike cookies where you are opening and closing the oven every eight minutes!  I did make the cookie dough, so I promise cookies will come soon!  Either way, we hope you have a great birthday and stay "cool"!

What's the best thing after a 106 degree day?

Yep......nice cool swimming pool.  Luckily we had Eyler signed up for swimming lessons this past week!  He's taking the Parent-Tot classes and Andy is the lucky parent of two-year-old choice.  Actually, I'm not so sure Andy minds it too much after a warm day work!  I must say it's really fun watching these little people who barely want to walk out in the pool past knee deep on the first day to wanting to go down the tube slide (which seems ginormous to me, can't imagine what it looks like to a wee toddler!)  I'll let you know if he actually does it next week, or if he gets to the top and decides that it's maybe not going to be as fun as he originally thought.

But to tide you  over

I'm afraid he might grow to be a bit of a daredevil! (Jumping off the side)

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is my dad's birthday and by chance (and choice) he and Roxann are coming to visit!  Love having visitors....hate the "company's coming" cleaning routine.  But all worth it in the end.

My dad has a total sweet tooth and is a sucker for anything made from scratch........actually he'd eat a box of anything off the shelf if it had the word "cookie" in the title, so I won't flatter myself too much by thinking he enjoys birthday goodies of the baked kind.  Anyways, I first made cake balls (i.e. also known as cake pops

It's kind of a bizarre concept and conceive (in my belief) by someone who accidentally dropped the birthday cake (not factual, but I'm telling myself this must be).  Either way it's the best thing to ever come from a cake mix.

Essentially you bake your cake and let it cool.  Then you cut it all up into one giant mess, open a can of frosting and mash the frosting and cake together you roll the "dough" into little balls.  Then you dip them in chocolate or roll them in something (i.e. nuts, coconut, sprinkles).  Sounds healthy, huh?  As if cake with frosting couldn't get any worse on the health scale.  The ones I made were german chocolate with coconut pecan frosting, but redvelvet cake or carrot cake with cream cheese frosting............delish!!

I also made cinnamon rolls to break up our ho hum company visiting breakfast.  They really aren't that hard, I don't know why I don't make them more often.  You bring the coffee, i'll bring the rolls.

Rolls getting ready to rise:

Mmmm, can't wait for breakfast!

Happy Birthday, Papa!!

re-purposed....

So, I got these old zippers from my grandma, and since I keep seeing zippered used in various ways on scrapbook pages I decided to see what I could come up with.  Luckily she had these old zippers and I was able to take them off her hands for cheap!  After-all buying a new zipper these days is almost $3!!! (highway robbery)

So, after messing with the glue gun I came up with these cute flowers.  I'm pretty proud of them!

I've been doing some scrapbooking for a friend and this is how I used my re-purposed zippers (hope she doesn't mind me posting this on the internet!)

Someone left the heat on.......

Man, it is tooooooooo hot!  How many 100+ degree days in a row can one person handle??  I'm enjoying staying inside in the A/C....although there aren't too many places where the air conditioner is able to keep up...but I can tell you what isn't enjoying the heat (as if anyone really is, I mean c'mon)....my garden is wilting away!  I swear the only thing liking the rain is the weeds!  Not only is the heat helping them to grow it's hindering any attemps I might have been considering to get out and catch up on weeding!

Lately we've been getting a decent supply of green beans and cherry tomatoes.  I've got lots of mini cucumbers right now and a few zuchinni setting on, but mostly I have lots of blooms that this heat is keeping from setting on some delicious veggies. 

So, if you can tell whomever left the heat on that I and my garden would like a reprieve, we'd be ever so thankful!

:)

freezer jam deliciousness.......

This week were preparing for my dad and step-mom to visit on the weekend, and since it's Papa's birthday this week, probably lots of baking going on.  Today I decided to make some freezer jam because a.) we love it....there's nothing better than what tastes like fresh strawberries in the middle of winter b.) it reminds me of my grandmother who always makes it but only my brother gets it (because he's the favorite ;) ) c.) all the supplies for making it were on sale at the grocer!

The recipe I used is on the Sure-Jel box....yes, it calls for what seems like a lot of sugar, but I checked and this is in fact accurate (must be why it tastes soooooooo good!).

My boiled and ready jars:

Mashed Strawberries:

Finishing Up:

Mmmmmm, can't wait until tomorrow when we can have a thick slice of buttered bread and some jam!! The rest will go to my freezer....I may even be nice enough to give a jar to my brother.

:)

in the beginning...............

Well, I've been wanting to start a blog for a while now.....partly because I want to chronicle our lives (no matter how mundane) for ourselves, but also because it's a way to connect our everyday life with our families who may not necessarily be close enough by to share "the everday"............

I also want to post some of my craftiness and have been asked to post some of the cooking/baking things I've done....

So here it is......in all it's spectacular glory.......

:)